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Alabama Music Office.com goes to the Gulf Coast to attend a performance by Sandra Laird at Flora-Bama for Frank Brown Interntional Songwriters Festival.
Sandra grew up listening to Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard, Gene Watson, Mickey Newbury, Connie Smith, Dolly Pardon, as well as listening to artists such as Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Etta James, Sam Cooke and having a true love for that genre of music, and she was greatly influenced by all of it! In 1980 a (very young) Sandra was chosen as one of the Johnny Mann singers and performed at Presdent Ronald Reagans Inauguation. As fate would have it, at the age of 17 Sandra met her favorite singer, Marty Robbins. Sandra told Marty then that she was going to pursue a career as a singer. When Marty heard Sandra sing, so impressed was he by her talent that he decided to help her with her endeavors and became her mentor. Marty recorded one of the first songs that Sandra wrote titled: "I Need You To Hold Me Together", which was released on his Lost & Found album. Theirs was a partnership that lasted until Martys untimely death. Sandra was also one of the singers on the album " Of Thee I Sing", The official music of the "500th anniversary of the discovery of America" and the only music sanctioned for the US Pavilions at the Worlds Fair in Seville, Spain. This album was in the top fifteen contenders for three separate Grammy's
Though Sandra began singing traditional country music, which she still loves, Sandra has been writing and recording in a different style for quite some time. She has chosen to sing more of her own and others original material, which isn't necessarily considered to be traditional country or todays new country. It would probably be considered more classic, pop, torch, jazz, folk. She admits, she doesn't know what to call it. She says, If I think it's a great song and it gets to me, I want to sing it, whatever the style may be. Sandra is presently working on her new CD which is to be released in 2012, as well as recording some of her recently written songs that will be pitched to some of todays artists.